Clegg should take his paternity leave

What is the world coming to when French Minister, Rachida Dati, is back at work just five days after giving birth (and looking amazingly fantastic after it too) and Nick Clegg suggests new fathers should be given a whole year’s paternity leave?

The timing of his comments couldn’t be more embarrassing coming as they do in the week that thousands are being laid off and as his Labour and Tory counterparts, Brown and Cameron, tour the country looking at the impact of the economic downturn. This ridiculous additional burden on business must be the last thing the management of M&S and thousands of small businesses want to hear as they struggle to keep afloat in these difficult times.

I voted for Clegg as Leader and was initially impressed as he steered the party in a tax cutting direction and spoke passionately about reclaiming economic liberalism. But his performance in recent weeks with his new found faith in Keynesian economics (the Green Recovery Plan) and his student politics utterances on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been thoroughly depressing.

With his third child expected in February, maybe he should take his 12 month paternity leave.